On My Mind.

Time for another week of low carb (last one can be viewed here Week #51), well, again a week late with posting it but Christmas came in the way (or so). So lets start out with something sweet. I have always loved chocolate, used to buy lots of M&M’s. Anyway, since I went on low carb I have more or less stopped with chocolate, to my big surprise this was easier than expected. But I still want some chocolate from time to time. Then I found out that the higher the cacao part of the chocolate was, the lower the carb. YES was my reaction :-) But what I didn’t count on was the calories often go up, like HIGH UP. Anyway, tried some 80% (yammy), then some 92% that I didn’t like that much, was just too dry. But then… I found 100%.

So ordered 5 of them, together with 5 packages of 80% cacao chocolate. To my surprise 100 grams of this chocolate (one package only got 70 grams) has 638 calories, I mean, HALLO, that is more than a big fat tasty burger :-) but at the same time it only contains 9 grams of carb. Can’t win them all I guess. First time I tasted it I almost spat it out again with the thought: Why didn’t I learn from the 92% one.. Right away told my sister she could have some. Sorry, sister, I’m slowly changing my mind. Taking 1-2 pieces of it at a time is actually pretty good now. No way I could eat a whole package of this one, not like a Ritter Sport :-)

23rd of December

24th of December

Christmas time (yeah, we celebrate on the 24th.. and 25th…). A day full of snacks, idea was to eat well before going for family dinner so I didn’t spoil myself with high carb food. Well, I failed.

But before i failed I had this new protein bar that I came across recently. Still a bit high in carb with 25 grams for a single bar, but I just love coconut. I remember standing at the fridge and think if I should go for a bounty or this new bar. I went with the new bar, thinking: Oh, it is also coconut, so will be similar. Ah, failed again, total chewy and not sweet at all but still nice.

27th of December

Yeah, not more about Christmas, but I can say we had nice food all the days and we had plenty. But we didn’t overeat (as Danish people often do at Christmas) but it wasn’t food made with low carb in mind all the time.

So back on low carb diet and starting with omelet for breakfast.

I started to wonder if there was a “breakfast” life before low carb. Beyond cereal.

Lunch: Just some iceberg salad with cucumber, tomato, sweet pepper and some tuna. Only 270 calories and 24 grams of carb.

28th of December, baking time again

Last time I baked bread it was a nice change and was good bread but the slices were too small for sandwiches. So I gave it another try, with nice success.

Dinner time, high in calories and low in carb :-)

Just have to be careful with the bread and it got lots of calories. Just these 3 slices got 374 calories, so with some cheese and a low carb yogurt my dinner ended on 800 calories and 16 grams of carb. That’s half of my goal of daily calorie intake. Other issue I had with the different bread I have tried is that the bread is always humid, never dries out and therefor isn’t eatable for many days. Quickly get covered with mold :-(

After my little series of daily low carb posts (post #1, post #2, post #3, post #4, post #5, post #6 and post #7) I wanted to do a few more days but got away from it, then decided to do a week report, now one week too late I do the first one, so will be for week 51 of 2014.

Main reason to change it in to a weekly blog post was that I spend too much time every evening (and often too late) and actually, I often had the same to eat every day, so 7 blog posts with 7 times more or less same breakfast, not that cool really.

So I will from now on just show a few meals for a week, so no more daily pictures. Oh, this also makes it easier for me to cheat ;-)

With this post 7 of my little series I reached ‘the end’ (Previous posts in this new series can be found here post #1, post #2, post #3, post #4, post #5, post #6) But I will probably do one or two days more, since the previous two days wasn’t that low carb. It sounds a bit as if I will stop on low carb but that’s not the case. I have been on low carb for a long time and I see the results and surely I will continue. I will also continue with low carb posts from time to time, but let’s get to today first. So this was my day 7 in my little series; Sunday the 14th of December 2014.

For example, if you eat a 2,000-calorie diet, shoot for 225 to 325 grams of carbs per day; and if you eat 2,500 calories a day, aim for 281 to 406 grams of carbs. Adults who drop their intake to 1,200 calories a day for weight loss need about 50 percent of their calories from carbs, or 150 grams per day.

Then my 211 carbs for Saturday almost seems low carb ;-) So lets have a look.

Day 4 in my little series of low carb eating. Thursday the 11th of December, 2014. (Previous posts in this new series can be found here post #1, post #2, post #3)

Breakfast

Today I took my time for an omelet, again with 2 eggs and ham, tomato, spinach (lots) and bacon.

Lot’s of calories, 491 of them. That’s about 1/3 of my daily goal.

I do sometimes end up with omelet with so much spinach that I can’t fold them but then I just call them ‘open omelet’.

Lunch

I cut some chicken this morning (and did not forget it at home this time), then just a bag of salad and that’s all. Nothing fancy but nice.

Only 245 calories, nothing to complain about here

Dinner

I tried something new today. I bought some fish and fried in on the pan, was actually pretty nice but could have used a few more minutes. I know nothing about fish really (beyond tuna and salmon) so was a bit of a dare, I bought what is called Pangasius, looks (according to Google) that it is also called that in English and Danish, so I have no idea about what kind of fish it was. Then I had some broccoli and spinach (frozen, cooked with milk) and then some cheese as topping on the spinach (was not the correct cheese, so a bit boring)

Without the cheese, but with the cheese it was around 430 calories

Snacks

Oh no, just had a few pieces of Kägi Fret again today, all fine until my boss came by with a whole package and left them at my desk.. Guess I ended at 8, which ends up on 318 calories. That’s crazy, more than my lunch.

Didn’t get better in the evening, had a whole Ritter Spot

Yammy but another480 calories

OMG, around 800 calories on just so few snacks. Really shows one of my previous issues, snacks and tons of calories. But did I feel bad about it, nope, not at all. There must be space for enjoyment; it was another case if it was a daily thing. For the once who have a few snacks each day I dare you to check how many calories you eat just by the snacks.

Nutrition information for the day

Ups, didn’t do as much walking/exercise as the other days, so according to the app I used 134 more than I should. Oh well, I will live another day.

116 grams of carbs, that’s pretty high (Well, depends…) I should really get below 75 again, or even better below 50. That should speed up the weight loss a great deal. So time to cut down on snacks again.

Another day, another Low Carb day. Wednesday the 10th of December, 2014. (Previous posts in this new series can be found here post #1, post #2)

Breakfast

I was in a bit of hurry this morning, so no cooking. Just some low carb müsli/cereal. I used to eat normal müsli/cereal a lot in the past but strangely enough I don’t miss it but I have to admit, sometimes it is nice to get something else that omelet, also something quicker. So I recently bought two different kinds of low carb cereal.

They don’t taste bad but they surely also not awesome. Maybe that’s good as I then don’t take an extra portion or take some for snack.

Anyway, today I had this one:

With milk it was just 356 calories, nothing to complain about (except that it does not taste sweet).

Lunch

I did cut some chicken at home but due to the stress I forgot it, so I settled for salad with cheese (Like the other day) but got some cherry tomatoes also to pimp it up a bit.

Just around 420 calories.

Dinner

For dinner I made a burger without the bun of course. I use lettuce as replacement; iceberg is the one that works best for me. I did try with the hard part of Chinese cabbage before, what a mess. You bite into the burger and the meat just slides out due to the cabbage pressing it down/away.

So a burger made with iceberg, tomato, cucumber, cheese and some mayonnaise. Not the best one I made but was okay, and just 327 calories!

Let’s get right to it. Todays meals, actually, yesterdays meal :-) (First post in this new series can be found here post #1)

Breakfast

419 calories for a tasty breakfast, yes, please.

As so often I started the day with an omelet for breakfast. This time with 2 eggs with some sweet pepper mixed into it. Some chicken from yesterday, cheese and a fried tomato.

Lunch

For lunch I had a pre-made salad with me, often I try to avoid these as I think it is crazy how much plastic is used for the container, with separate mini containers for fork, dressing, chicken and so forth. But got it from a friend so no bitching this time :-)

Presenting: Hawaii & Pasta

Around 350 calories

Not the most exciting salad but I had worse. It had a few pieces of pineapple and some chicken. Not sure what the pasta/noodles was about, just different. According to MyFitnessPal it got 350 calories and 32 grams of carb, my calculations gave less but guess they didn’t add the dressing on the Foot Fact note.

Late Dinner

Got home a bit late but took my time for cooking, actually started with a shake (See below). Then it was cooking time, the meal was simple but time consuming. Some fried meat and on the other pan I friend a mixture of cauliflower-rice, sweet pepper, lots of spinach, onion and some coconut.

Just a word about cauliflower-rice, I read about it before but never tried it until my sister recommended it. So easy to make, just shred some cauliflower with a hand-held grater, leave in some bigger pieces (..just what I like..) and that’s about it. I don’t cook it but just fry it on the pan together with other things. Just be carefully, it can end up rather dry.

Had a nice long day so decided to enjoy a beer together with the food. Not a bad idea if I have to say it myself.

So dinner ended up with a total of 612 calories, yes, including the beer.

Snacks

During work I got hungry and decide for a small snack, in the past this could have been bread or chocolate but not any more (Well, sometimes…)

So bought 200 grams of cottage cheese, yammy, really enjoyed it.

As mentioned, I had a shake when I came home from work, some take a glass of whine while cooking (yes, I do so too, sometimes) but I had a nice shake

(Hmmm, not the best picture).

Shake was inspired by the High-Protein Berry Shake from my favourite low carb website Low-Carb Diet Advice. My shake includes 60 grams of frozen blueberries, 120ml Coconut Milk, 10 grams of protein powder (Strawberry taste) and some artificial sweetener, finished off with some water. Second time I made it, taste really good but needs some tweaking I think. A bit high in calories with 316 and 13 grams of carb but sometimes you just have to ignore that and enjoy.

Nutrition information for the day

Had a lot today so ended way over my goal, actually ended at 1901 calories, then with a bit walking I ended up with… damn it.. minus 33 ;-) But no regrets, don’t even dare to think how it was in the past… But if I continue so I will be DOWN to 81.1 kg in 5 weeks, so maybe I should continue like this ;-)

Since I have been on low carb diet for quiet some time now I thought it would be an idea to share information about what I do eat during a normal week. So for the next week I will do a daily blog entry with photos of the meals and some nutrition information, as well as other comments ;-) Not planning any receipts but I will mention what is in the various meals.

As mention in the previous post I track all meals with MyFitnessPal.com (Their iOS app), so end of each day I will be able to share the daily nutrition overview. Whenever I ‘end’ the day with the app it will tell me how my weight will be in 5 weeks, if every day was like the day I just ended. I had have some cases where it didn’t allow me to finish the day, as I didn’t eat enough calories, even had one warning about starvation mode. Feels pretty strange when that shows up, as I never feel hungry at the end of the day.

Track it

I have for quiet some time been tracking exercise, weight, food intake and other health related data. I’m also putting data into a journal, typical me some would say. Putting as much as possible into spreadsheets but that’s just what I like to do ;-) So let me sum up what tools I have been using for tracking data. Continue Reading »